About this site

Hey. I’m Matt Ruby (matt@mruby.com). I live in Brooklyn and I'm a standup comedian and the creator of Vooza, a video comic strip about the tech world. This is Sandpaper Suit, a comedy blog about standup, filmmaking, and whatever else I feel like talking about. Established 2006. Phew, that's a while.

Gah. All the Rififi shows are done. And now Scum & Villainy, Melissa Teran's cool show at Piano's, is ending too. Last one coming up this Sunday.

WTF? All the good downtown shows are disappearing. I mean Sound Fix in Williamsburg, Union Hall in Park Slope, and The Creek in LIC have cool shows...but still, that's Brooklyn and Queens, not Manhattan. I don't like the idea of good non-club comedy being pushed exclusively to the outer boroughs.

Rififi had hundreds of people per week there drinking at 8pm. Doesn't some other bar in that hood that has a stage want to sell those people drinks?

Karma's getting decent shows but there's something weird about that room. It always feels like people aren't sure why they're there or something. Why doesn't Kabin do more shows? Or a place like Rehab on Avenue B? Could Parkside turn into a cool comedy venue if Greg Johnson's show starts up there regular? Supply and demand means something new will pop up eventually...um, right? Hmm.

Related: We'll be doing a special Manhattan version of "We're All Friends Here" at The Slipper Room in the Lower East Side on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 8pm. Stay tuned.Update: Mo Diggs explores the same issue in depth over at The Apiary today.